Does Being a Servant Leader Mean Not To Serve Yourself?

I was talking to a friend of mine about how people go to seminars and are all pumped up until they get home. They get overwhelmed. They have fear of putting their ideas into action.

It is of my opinion people need to partner with others and have accountability. If you are not a self motivator your dream could die. Heck, I am a self motivator but I know my dreams will die if I don’t reach out to others, to cheer me on and help.

Sometimes when you are a servant leader you forget to serve yourself, and can get lost in others dreams at the expense of your own. It doesn’t have to be that way.

A servant leader is a timeless concept that was coin phrased by Robert Greenleaf in an essay he published in 1970. Greenleaf describes servant-leaders as people who initiate action, are goal-oriented, are dreamers of great dreams, are good communicators, are able to withdraw and re-orient themselves, and are dependable, trusted, creative, intuitive, and situational.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

Greenleaf said that “the servant-leader is servant first.” By that he meant that that the desire to serve, the “servant’s heart,” is a fundamental characteristic of a servant-leader. It is not about being servile, it is about wanting to help others. It is about identifying and meeting the needs of colleagues, customers, and communities.

Qualities of a servant leader include listening and understanding; acceptance and empathy; foresight; awareness and perception; persuasion; conceptualization; self-healing; and rebuilding community.
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“Don’t let your dreams get lost while serving others. You can do both. Find a balance and remember we all have dreams! Make sure you live yours while you are still able to live. We are not promised a future… only a present.”